I first read Lord of the Rings in the mid 60's and loved it so much that my mother bought me this edition as a gift in 1969. She died recently and left me the same book. I read it back then, so this is not a pristine edition. It is complete, with its slip case, maps intact and in place.

Internally the first pages up to page 12 have slightly turned corners as are pages 1153 to the end, and page 17/18 was incompletely cut as it was bound folded. The rest of the interior is in good condition, speckled green at the edges with no foxing. The red elvish text on page 63 is stunning. The black and grey end papers are good and unmarked.

The slip case and covers have not lasted so well. The case is complete and original but battered. The covers are quite foxed and the front design has something smeared on it. I blame my 17 yr old self.

I wonder whether it can be, or should be restored, or of there is anyone out there who has any information that would be of help.

That's a great story, and in my opinion, this is a nostalgia piece I probably wouldn't touch. There's nothing wrong with a well used book, unless you were ever trying to present it for sale, which doesn't sound like your intention.

However, as far as restoration is concerned, everything is possible, but could be costly. Any repairs to sheets can be time consuming and require building up layers of rice paper. The staining to the buckram cover also would be pretty tough to repair. If it is grime, it could be professionally cleaned, but fading or staining would require someone to fill in the faded regions, which again is very time consuming.

The most cost effective approach would be to leave the book as it is, and maybe have the slipcase restored or replaced. If you really wanted a nice clean copy for display, you could easily track down a different copy in better condition, and for cheaper than restoration of your current copy, especially if you were willing to compromise on publication year. This edition was printed (albeit with a tray type box instead of slipcase) for many years after 1969, and later copies can be found in mint condition for pretty cheap. If you wanted a slipcase instead of the box, just talk to David Miller from the Tolkien Bookshelf. He's real good with these. Here's a link to the nice felt lined version he makes for this particular book: